Increasingly, there is a desire by service providers and consumers to distribute high-quality digitally encoded content (e.g., data, voice, and video) to both stationary and mobile devices, and to enable and control through these devices a rich set of content-related services. However, there is currently not an integrated network solution that can enable such content-related services while also allowing for a user-friendly way to create and/or modify a hybrid network having multiple devices that operate according to different network technologies.
Existing hybrid networks, which may operate wirelessly and/or over hardwire connections, typically incorporate multiple network technologies (e.g., Wi-Fi, HomePlug AV, and Ethernet) that are based upon various different networking standards. Typically, the configuration, operation, and communication protocols of these different network technologies are created by different groups and thus may vary. More specifically, not only are the network connection setup procedures (e.g., for creating new networks, adding devices to an existing network, discovering connected devices, bridging to other devices/networks, and so on) associated with Wi-Fi, HomePlug AV, and Ethernet systems different from each other, devices operating according to one of these standards typically has difficulty connecting to (and thus communicating with) devices operating according to another of these standards without the use of bridging devices and/or complicated connection setup operations. From a user standpoint, it is desirable to have a single simplified mechanism for setting up and/or modifying a hybrid network that employs a multitude of different networking technologies. It is also desirable for the hybrid network to function as a single, seamless network that integrates different network technologies in a manner that is entirely transparent to the user.
Typically, networking technologies include security mechanisms to prevent unauthorized devices from forming networks with authorized devices, from joining an existing network, and from decoding data sent over the network. Wi-Fi and HomePlug AV are examples of network communication technologies or protocols that support these types of security mechanisms.
One technique for preventing unauthorized devices from forming or joining a network is to require devices to demonstrate that they possess a secret security key (e.g., a “pre-shared key”) or password that is known to both the joining device and the device authenticating the joining device to the network. Such security keys may be associated with a single device (e.g., a device key) or may be associated with a network and known to all devices in the network (e.g., a network key).
Security keys that are used to encrypt user data to protect the data from being decoded by unauthorized devices can be generated during the authentication process. A common technique of ensuring that the joining device and the authenticating device possess the same security key is to require the user to enter the same password on both the joining device and the authenticating device, and in response thereto the joining device and the authenticating device may generate the same (e.g., pre-shared) security key.
Unfortunately, the specifics (e.g., the acceptable lengths, formats, and/or valid character sets) of passwords and security keys typically vary between different network technologies. For example, while the HomePlug network protocol may specify its passwords to include a first range (e.g., between N and M instances) of a first set of allowable characters (e.g., printable ASCII characters), the Wi-Fi network protocol may specify its passwords to include a second range (e.g., between X and Y instances) of a second set of allowable characters (e.g., all ASCII characters), where N≠X, M≠Y, and the first and second sets of characters are not the same. Additionally, the minimum number of characters allowed for HomePlug passwords may be greater than the minimum number of characters allowed for Wi-Fi passwords, and some characters allowed in HomePlug passwords (e.g., characters “[” and “]”) may not be allowed in Wi-Fi passwords. As a result, current hybrid networks typically require a user to enter a different password and/or key for each type of network technology device seeking to form and/or join the hybrid network, which is not only burdensome but may also require the user to determine which type of network technology each device employs or worse, enter different passwords on the same device for different technologies.
Therefore, there is a need for a simple and unified authentication mechanism that allows a user to form and/or expand a hybrid network using devices that operate according to different network technologies.